ML123748061

Age and sex

Immature Unknown sex - X

Media notes

This photo shows the fairly long bill and comparative size to Ring-billed Gull.

Observation details

Possibly six. Uncommon in Montgomery County, and this seems like a fairly late high count to me. Also a personal state first! The birds were first seen from the boat launch, but mostly from the first peninsula on the right as you walk the trail into the woods. All appeared to be first-winter birds. They were smaller than adjacent Ring-billed Gulls, but not by much. They soon flew and circled up higher, where I noted dark wings. After looking at my Sibley guide, I realized that these birds did not have the clean white underwings of Franklin's Gull, but rather dingy with some paler areas. They also showed significant amounts of brown on the upperwings. I noted a white tail base on at least one bird, but not as extensive as in Franklin's Gull illustrations. After a few minutes the birds returned to sit on the water for another 20 minutes or so. Here I noted that they had fairly long bills, not short as in Franklin's. Their "hood" remnants were visible but not bold and concentrated as in Franklin's. I noted in photos that they had dark napes, as opposed to Franklin's Gull's pale nape. Eventually they flew up again and disappeared far to the W/SW, where it appeared that there might have been a sixth bird. I managed to get some poor photos that show most of the characteristics mentioned above. EDIT: A quick check on eBird showed no previous Montgomery reports for Nov-Dec.

Technical information

Model

XT1575

ISO

50

Focal length

4.7 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/2.0

Shutter speed

487/100000 sec

Dimensions

3006 pixels x 5344 pixels

Original file size

3.39 MB